The best female buddies on film and TV

It seems like every coupleof years or so, someone will release another one of those lists: Youknow, the ones that talk about the greatest on-screen partnerships andduos. There will be a top ten: Hepburn and Tracy will be mentioned,as will Bogart and Bacall. In the realm of (allegedly) non-romanticpairings, there will be Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Butch Cassidyand the Sundance Kid, and maybe Laurel and Hardy, or the guys from Lethal Weapon. What there reliably never will be is any female-femalebuddy relationships.

Well, I think that’s nonsense— so without any further ado, here is a list of my favorite (allegedly)non-romantic female partnerships on film and television:

The ’50s showgirls of thisclassic film travel together, trade banter, stick up for each otherin the face of outsiders, and even walk up the aisle together at theend in matching wedding dresses. Sadly, they weren’t actually marryingeach other — even though the picture does make it look like it.

In this iconic reworking ofthe traditional road movie, the waitress-and-housewife-turned-stickup-artistsbecame so close that by the end, as Sarandon has said, “they werefinishing each others’ sentences.”

The Bolly-drinking, pill-popping,square-daughter-enraging socialites from the cult British sitcom wereapparently unable to function without each other. Admittedly, they weresometimes just plain unable to function.

No divorced fortysomethingsever had as much fun as Cybill and Maryann did in Shepherd’s semi-autobiographicalLA-based sitcom. Whether pondering life’s important questions (“Whowould you rather sleep with? Ross Perot or one of those devil monkeysfrom The Wizard of Oz?”), climbing up on an advertisingbillboard to paint curves on a young, emaciated model, or making travelplans (“Cybill, let’s go to Mexico and get our butts tattooed!”),these were the two women who made you believe that, together, they reallycould do anything.

The Women ofSex and the City (1998–2004)

Mr. Big said it best when hetold Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte: “You’re the loves of [Carrie]’slife, and a guy would be lucky to come in fourth.” The rock-solidfriendship of the quartet was the foundation on which this show wasbuilt.

Missy (Eliza Dushku) andTorrance (Kirsten Dunst), Bring It On (2000)

This popular teen film gotmuch of its spark from the chemistry between perky blonde cheerleaderTorrance and sarcastic, Goth, ambiguously gay Missy. Whether battlinghomophobic teammates, stolen routines, or dangerously insanedance teachers, the two stuck together and fought it out.

The first gay character on the long-running Australian soap,teenage newcomer Lana discovered a soulmate in straight series regularSky. Their friendship survived Lana’s early crush, Sky’s sexual confusion,and homophobic pressures from outsiders, and they emerged as platonicBFFs who took each other to the prom.

Who are your favorite on-screenfemale buddies? Let me know in the comments.